1. Field
Embodiments of the disclosure relate generally to electric motors and more particularly to a three phase virtual elliptical motor with multiple coils for redundant operation allowing one or more coil or controller failures without preventing motor operation.
2. Background
Electromechanical actuators for primary flight control surfaces in large commercial aircraft require complex mechanical couplings in order to provide redundancy. These couplings are heavy and introduce additional failure modes and complex critical assembly tolerance constraints. Typically systems use speed summing of two independent motors. This requires that each motor has a brake and is connected to a differential which allows one motor to drive the load and, under a failure condition, to have its brake applied to allow the other motor to operate. This is a complex mechanical system that includes multiple gear meshes and bearing supports. This precision machine may have lower efficiency reducing the system performance. The brake is additionally a potential failure point and reduces the reliability of the system.
It is therefore desirable to provide an electric motor controlled actuator which does not require motor redundancy, speed summing or brake systems to operate in a failure tolerant mode.